51: LAURA MARLING Folk singer Laura Marling was just 17 when she recorded her debut album, the Mercury Prize-nominated Alas, I Cannot Swim. Her follow-up, I Speak Because I can, was also nominated for the Mercury Prize, and helped win her a Brit Award for best British female in 2010. Marling’s confessional, literate lyrics, rich voice and mature sound have seen her compared to Joni Mitchell, and placed her at the forefront of the so-called “nu-folk” scene in Britain alongside acts like Mumford and Sons and Noah and the Whale.